Man who killed 3 put to death

STARKE - While witnessing the execution of Allen Lee ''Tiny'' Davis yesterday, John Weiler wasn't distracted by Davis' bleeding or his muffled screams.

Instead, the husband and father of Davis' three murder victims said he was steadfastly focused on the fact that his 17 years of waiting for Davis' death were finally ending.

Davis, 54, was condemned for the May 11, 1982, slayings of Nancy Weiler, who was three months' pregnant, and two daughters in their home on San Pablo Road in Jacksonville.

During yesterday's execution, a small dot of blood grew to a large splotch on the front of Davis' white dress shirt. Prison physicians and an autopsy report concluded the blood came from a nosebleed.

Regardless, Weiler said, at last the execution was occurring. He was hoping during those hushed, anxious moments in the Florida State Prison death chamber that ''all Florida residents understand the importance of this.''

''This was a necessary thing that had to be done, and everyone has to understand why,'' Weiler said. ''I've had to wait 17 years for some type of closure to this. No one else should have to do that. Any more than one year to [carry out] a sentence is ridiculous.''

The autopsy report by a Gainesville medical examiner does not mention any injuries - only blood in Davis' left nostril - that would have caused the bleeding.

But because of the bleeding and other issues, the Florida Supreme Court last night postponed today's scheduled execution of Thomas Provenzano, convicted of killing one Orange County Courthouse bailiff and wounding two others in 1984. That execution is postponed until Sept. 14.

In appeals that led to the postponement, lawyers for Death Row inmates also said not enough electricity was applied yesterday to make Davis' death painless.

The electric chair is supposed to automatically apply 2,300 volts for eight seconds, followed by 1,000 volts for 22 seconds, then 2,300 volts for another eight seconds. But a chart on the voltage in Davis' execution showed 1,500 volts for eight seconds, 600 volts for 22 seconds and 1,500 volts for 4.5 seconds.

The inmates' lawyers argued that the voltage in the electric chair during four executions last year wasn't enough to kill painlessly, especially for a man Davis' size. Davis weighed 344 pounds, officials said yesterday.

Yesterday's was the first execution in Florida's new electric chair, which replaced ''Old Sparky,'' the rickety oak chair used since 1924.

Weiler, 55, sat in the center of the front row in the witness room. He said that, before a hood was draped over Davis' head, he made eye contact with the killer of his wife and two young daughters.

''He didn't show an ounce of remorse,'' Weiler said. ''He knew who I was. He didn't care. Not a bit.''

Davis, who had arthritis and other physical conditions, was brought to the chamber in a wheelchair shortly after 7 a.m. His shaven head and right lower leg were coated with conductive gel. He glanced intermittently at the two dozen witnesses, the ceiling and the floor.

Corrections officers hoisted him into the electric chair and secured him with thick leather straps around his legs, arms, waist, chest and head. He shook his head when asked if he had a last statement.

He roared unintelligibly, twice, after a strap was wrapped tightly across his mouth and his head was covered with a skullcap and hood.

After the electrocution lever was pulled at 7:10 a.m., Davis' back straightened, his hands clenched and his chest seemed to expand.

His body came to rest and blood appeared on the front of his shirt. Initially, a red dot appeared in the center of his chest. The stain slowly grew to a splotch about 8 inches across.

His chest heaved repeatedly; he appeared to still be alive. But he was pronounced dead at 7:15.

Planned executions were delayed through the past several years as Death Row inmates' attorneys challenged the constitutionality of Florida's electric chair, calling it cruel and unusual punishment. Flames shot from one inmate's head during one execution.

Florida Department of Corrections officials were quick to issue a statement after yesterday's execution.

''The blood appeared to be the result of a typical nosebleed, which flowed from the left nostril,'' said Victor Selyutin, a prison physician who examined Davis.

He said Davis had been taking heavy doses of aspirin and Motrin as blood thinners to alleviate arthritic pain. Officials also said Davis had a history of hypertension and a degenerative hip problem.

''Previous wardens of Florida State Prison who have witnessed executions in the past have observed nosebleeds by executed inmates,'' the Department of Corrections said in a prepared statement. ''The electric chair functioned properly at all times and Davis was put to death in the manner prescribed by law.''

Cory Tilley, spokesman for Gov. Jeb Bush, said: ''We are absolutely, 100 percent comfortable that the chair performed flawlessly as it was designed to perform. . . . Everybody's getting all worked up about a nosebleed.''

But opponents of the death penalty insisted the chair doesn't work.

D. Michael McCarron, executive director of the Florida Catholic Conference, which represents Florida's bishops, said, ''If there is any doubt whatsoever about the proper functioning of that chair, tomorrow's scheduled execution of Thomas Provenzano should not go forward. . . . They ought to stop.''

Provenzano opened fire in 1984 at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando. He had been scheduled to die Wednesday, but was given a 48-hour stay Tuesday night. His execution had been reset for 7:01 a.m. today, but has been postponed.

The American Civil Liberties Union called on Bush to halt all executions until the state can assure they are conducted humanely.

''Criminals no doubt deserve to be punished, and the severity of the punishment should be appropriate to their culpability,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of ACLU of Florida.

''But Florida's record of executions, and the Legislature's obsession with electrocution as the method of execution, has been barbaric,'' Simon said.

But Weiler said his family's murders were barbaric. He recalled that Davis admitted that a prime motive that day was ''to rape and kill my daughter Kristina, 9, then to murder my wife and younger daughter [Katherine, 5]. A secondary motive was to rob my residence.''

''I relate these details to you, the citizens of Florida, so there is no question of the cruel and terrible deaths that Allen Lee Davis inflicted on his victims,'' Weiler said in a news conference after the execution.

Recalling that Davis had committed crimes before killing his family, Weiler said, ''Davis was a deviant animal that should have been permanently caged or executed many years before May 1982. . . . The execution today was a legal, moral and righteous one, and I can assure you God approves.''